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Lambie struggles to define 'sharia law'

The controversial PUP senator appears in a 'car-crash' interview on ABC TV's Insiders program

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Last week, while news of the "terror raids" were splashed across newspaper front pages and TV screens, Liberal senator Cory Bernardi renewed his call for a ban on the burqa, calling it a "shroud of oppression and flag of fundamentalism".

Even members of his own party, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, distanced themselves from his comments, but Bernardi found support in the form of Palmer United Party senator Jacqui Lambie.

Lambie had already caused consternation within her own party earlier in the week, by claiming: "Anyone who supports sharia law in Australia should not have the right to vote …and should probably pack up their bags and get out of here."

Like many non-Muslims, Lambie is clearly ignorant of what sharia entails.

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The penal code that understandably frightens so many Westerners is only a minuscule aspect of sharia, and Muslims who look to sharia for civil and family matters do not necessarily agree with its punitive criminal provisions.

"Now we're at war with the sharia extremists and Australia has been placed on a heightened terrorism alert - we can't have anyone hiding their identity in public," she said in a statement.

"I agree wholeheartedly with Senator Cory Bernardi's comments - and call for an immediate and complete ban on the wearing of burkas in public. The burkas are obviously designed by men who have an obsessive need to have extreme control and power over women."

It's ironic to claim that those Sunni Muslim women who wear face veils are victims, while simultaneously demanding they be punished by banishing them from public life.

Again, given that no women were involved in the alleged terrorist conspiracy, nor were the suspects planning on donning burqas to carry out their attacks, why are Lambie and Bernardi using this occasion to harass Muslim women?

Now, I am no fan of the burqa but it is absurd to think that fundamentalism can be eradicated by further restricting the freedom of women, or that Islam can be "reformed" by Western outsiders rather than by the religion's own adherents.

The entire debacle was topped off by the meme Lambie chose to illustrate the supposed dangers of the burqa. Created by the ultra-nationalist Britain First party, the image of a burqa-clad woman pointing a gun at an unseen adversary was clearly designed to instil fear by implying that all Muslims, including women, are a threat.

It didn't take long for the truth to come out. The woman in the image was Malalai Kakar, one of Afghanistan's first female police officers, and a fierce advocate of women's rights.

Kakar was shot and killed by the Taliban in 2008.

Photographer Lana Slezic told the media that everything Kakar "stood for, everything she fought for, for herself, her family, her daughters and future of her country, everything has been desecrated by how Jacqui Lambie and Britain First have used this photograph".

Indeed, only does this meme sully Kakar's memory, it also shows the inherent illogicality of Islamophobia. Every time a Muslim person commits a crime, the blame is quickly placed on Islam generally, rather than the individuals involved, and the way they manipulate religion to suit political agendas.

The irony is that in politically volatile countries like Afghanistan, the burqa can – and has been – used as a safety tool by women such as Kakar and other activists such as Malalai Joya, by allowing them to move relatively freely in public without revealing their identities to the fundamentalists determined to assassinate them.

But rather than express contrition, Lambie doubled down on yesterday's Insiders, claiming that she "knew" it was Kakar in the picture and that she purposely chose it because Kakar was a "bloody hero" who should be remembered.

Sorry Senator Lambie, but I'm not buying it. It makes no sense to claim the burqa is a security risk while appropriating the image of a woman who wore it while she died fighting against the misogynistic forces endangering her country.

This is not the first time that far-right groups such as Britain First have made idiots of themselves by perpetuating myths about women in Islam. They are also the brainchild behind this meme that claimed the Council of Islamic Ideology had issued a fatwa declaring, "Women by existing defied the laws of nature, and to protect Islam and the Sharia women should be forced to stop existing as soon as possible."

The meme was based on this story in Pakistan Today, which, while publishing conventional news, is also an Onion-esque satirical website. The "article" was actually a parody of irrational, misogynistic clerics. Yes, believe it or not, Muslims do have a sense of humour and are even known to ridicule the excesses of their religious representatives.

But such is the West's view of Islam as a faceless, marauding horde that the meme was readily accepted as fact and widely shared on social media. I'm not sure why so many Westerners insist on denying Muslims the complexity and individuality that the West takes as a given for itself. The more Muslims are dehumanised, the less chance we have of actually understanding what drives some to radicalisation. In the case of ISIS, surely most of us can see that they are propelled more by delusions of self-importance and the prospect of unbridled power than by actual religion?

Lost in this mistaken conception of Islam as inherently evil, is not only the fact that most victims of Muslim extremists are also Muslims, but that some of the most thoughtful and determined critics of fundamentalism and terrorism are themselves Muslim.

And that includes women like Kakar whose legacy is now being tarnished through association with the very extremism she died opposing. Because men do something wrong, someone, somewhere, will make sure it is women who pay the price.

72 comments

good to know that the ignorant members of community are represented in parliament - a true democracy

Commenter

confused

Date and time

September 22, 2014, 9:06AM

I know muslim men and women who agree with lambie.

They have moved to the west for this very reason.

Commenter

mopke

Date and time

September 22, 2014, 12:42PM

Most of the occupy the government front bench.

Commenter

eyeroll

Location

Sydney

Date and time

September 22, 2014, 1:34PM

Thank you Ruby, for restoring some intelligence and perspective to this deliberate and damaging sensationalism based on ignorance and prejudice.

That the morons who utter these statements cannot see their own contradiction of telling women what they should wear, in order to remove the so-called oppression of their religion, is astonishing.

Commenter

Mimi

Date and time

September 22, 2014, 9:11AM

It's not based on ignorance. There are sound reasons to consider banning the burqa for the overall benefit of society, as France has done.

In upholding France's ban, the European Court of Human Rights decided overwhelmingly that the ban be regarded as a legitimate way to preserve the conditions of “living together” and accepted that the barrier raised by the full-face veil, completely concealing the face, was breaching the right of others to live in a space of socialization, therefore making “living together” more difficult.

Commenter

rudy

Date and time

September 22, 2014, 12:24PM

I was intrigued that banning tehy Burqa was trampling on women''s rights. This mode of dress is not imposed in the Koran but is a tribal throwback to a male dominated society where women were chattels.It is now used as an overt display of poliitical Islam. Not to mention that it is impossible to ID anyone wearing one. In banks even sunglasses need to be removed and I hear no bleating about that. I think it goes like this this is a tolerant society for religion, it however has laws that over rule religion. Catholics ban abortion but is it legal?We have in this cas a real security issue .To frame it as women's rights is at once absurd and ignorant of its origins.

Commenter

G Sacramento

Date and time

September 22, 2014, 9:25AM

There are many things in Western society today that when judged by today's standards would seem absurd. Just because it doesn't make sense does not mean that we have to get rid of it nor does it mean we should make other people get rid of it.Having said that the law of the land must apply, and if there was ever a security issue ie immigration, the the burka needs to be removed for security purposes, but other then that it should be up to an individual how they choose to dress. If we start forcibly restricting people in the way they dress how are we any different to the oppression we claim they represent.This is not a women's right issue but an individuals right issue. it doesn't matter weather the burka is religious based or culturally based. Its an individuals right to choose.

Commenter

swingdoctor

Date and time

September 22, 2014, 9:59AM

I agree to an extent. But unfortunately for the Right, their veil of decency doesn't fly, whether its care for asylum seekers on leaky boats or women in burqas, at the end of the day those supporting Bernardi are red necks out for blood.

Banning the burqa wouldn't solve any issues for these women either, it could in fact make life difficult and they could end up not being able to leave the house and socialise etc.

Commenter

CB

Location

Glenorie

Date and time

September 22, 2014, 10:53AM

G Sacramento"I was intrigued that banning the Burqa was trampling on women''s rights."

The Author'But such is the West's view of Islam as a faceless, marauding horde that the meme was readily accepted as fact and widely shared on social media."

What the author has forgotten is that the Burqua is deliberately about men hiding/destroying the identity of women.....ie hiding them from public life

Commenter

Carstendog

Location

Here

Date and time

September 22, 2014, 11:47AM

I can't see how a woman walking the streets with her face covered is somehow a security issue, when we allow even encourage people riding motor cycles to wear a full face helmet. The issue of security is a convenient furphy thrown in to justify religious profiling by inept thinkers in power.